Wikileaks founder seeks asylum in Londan, wildfires spread in the western states, the shuttle Endeavor heads to a new home and more in today’s daily brief.

A firefighting tanker plane drops fire retardant on homes threatened by the Taylor Creek Fire outside Cle Elum, Washington. Wildfires roared out of control across the sun-scorched U.S. West on Wednesday and threatened to roll into two small towns in Idaho as firefighters managed to partially dampen a monster blaze that has destroyed 60 homes in Washington state. (Robert Sorbo/Reuters photo)

A pair of trees are torched near the front lines of the Taylor Bridge Fire near Cle Elum, Washington. The fire, which started Monday, has burned more than 22,000 acres. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

Protesters gather outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks is staying in London, England. Mr Assange has been living inside Ecuador’s London embassy since June 19, 2012 after requesting political asylum whilst facing extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Police gather outside the Ecuador embassy in west London. Ecuador has granted political asylum to WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Thursday, a day after the British government threatened to storm the Ecuadorean embassy in London to arrest the former hacker. (Olivia Harris/Reuters photo)

Thai vegetable market vendors pull back awnings and their produce off a railway track to allow a cross-country train to dissect through the middle of the town of Maeklong, in Samut Songkhram province, 60 km (37 miles) west of Bangkok. The bustling market, in the middle of the town, has to scramble from the tracks eight times a day as trains pass. (Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters photo)

A Free Syrian Army fighter observes the area during clashes in Aleppo. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters photo)

A member of the SAT (Andalusian Union of Workers) takes a bath to cool off in a fountain after arriving to Jimena during the first day of a march between the town of Jodar and Jaen, southern Spain. The march, led by Marinaleda’s Mayor and IU (Izquierda Unida) Parliamentarian Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo (unseen) from Jodar, will continue across the region through blistering summer heat in a bid to persuade other local leaders to refuse compliance with government reforms. (Jon Nazca/Reuters photo)

Members of the nationalist movement “Ganbare Nippon” holding Japanese national flags take part in a protest against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s visit to an island — known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, near the South Korean embassy in Tokyo, a day after the 67th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters photo)

Jockey Antonio Siri (L) of the Drago parish rides his horse ahead of jockey Silvano Mulas of Pantera parish during a training session of the Palio race in Siena. Every year on August 16, almost without fail since the mid-1600s, 10 riders compete bareback around Siena’s shell-shaped central square in a bid to win the Palio, a silk banner depicting the Madonna and child. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters photo)

Cyclists ride past the burnt-out wreckage of a bus, which was set on fire by angry rioters, at Udiana village in Kamrup district, some 50 kms from Guwahati in India’s Assam state. An angry mob torched a bus and burnt a road bridge in a restive region of northeast India as violence blamed for a spike in inter-religious tension across the country flared again. (Getty Images)

Tourists enjoy summer weather at the beach in Sellin on Ruegen, eastern Germany. Meteorologists forecast temperatures up to 32 degrees in Germany for the coming weekend. (Stefan Sauer/Getty Images)

Hundreds of people on motorcycles queue to board a ferry heading for Java island, in Gilimanuk port on the island of Bali. Millions of Indonesia’s Muslims are heading home to their villages to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holidays with their families and relatives marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. (Sonny Tumbel/Getty Images)

Thousands of Bangladeshis cram ferries, as they rush home to be with their families in remote villages before the Muslim Eid festival, at Sadarghat ferry terminal on the outskirts of Dhaka. (Munir uz Zaman/Getty Images)

A Californian sea lion yawns in his enclosure at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin. (Barbar Sax/Getty Images)

Colorful goldfish swim in a tank as part of an art exhibition ‘Art Aquarium’ during a press preview in Tokyo. The exhibition, designed by aquarist Hidetomo Kimura, will begin from August 17 through September 24. (Yoshikazu Tsunorie/Getty Images)

Space Shuttle Atlantis (L) and Endeavour face each other as they as Endeavour backs out of the Orbiter Processing Facility and Atlantis is moved out of the Vehicle Assembly Building in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Space shuttle Endeavour will be moved to the California Science Center as a permanent exhibit and Space shuttle Atlantis will be kept at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. ( Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images)

The Darkroom offers Facebook and WordPress commenting in the hopes of fostering constructive conversation among our users. Please abide by our
Terms of Service when commenting on the site.

Categories

ABOUT THE DARKROOM

The Darkroom, the photography and video blog of The Baltimore Sun, shines a light on visually captivating stories of our past and present. It showcases the exciting work of our staff, offers tips in the craft, and highlights the emerging community of independent media makers. We want your feedback – please contact us with suggestions and ideas.